Ghosts of the Digital World
by Crystal Mizuka
Summary: What if a shaman were to learn about digimon? And what might a shaman discover if they were to find their way into the Digital World? What if that shaman was Hana, and the adventure a little too close to home? **Shaman King & Digimon Adventure 02**
1. Episode 01

Additional Author's Notes: I really am a terrible person for thinking of things like this.

* * *

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. Similarly, Digimon and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai and Toei Animation.

Author's Notes: This is a one-shot story. I refuse to turn this into some kind of crazy multi-chapter epic crossover. You can't make me.

* * *

Noodle Noodle Come Get Your Noodle

_2007_

_Seven years have passed since the Shaman Fight in Tokyo._

_Five years have passed since chosen children from around the world gathered with their partner digimon to banish the dark power of Belial Vamdemon from the Digital World._

_One journey ends. Another soon begins. Such is the way of things._

Hana, the young heir to the Asakura family, had accompanied Ryu into the city to run some errands. Eventually it came to be time for lunch so they had opted to take advantage of a noodle cart that just happened to be conveniently located along the way. It so happened that Daisuke was apprenticing at this particular noodle cart accompanied, as always, by V-mon.

Hana had never seen a digimon before. He was a shaman and he had witnessed the peculiar forms that spirits could take, but the cheerful little blue dragon was definitely something he had never encountered before. The dark haired teenager with the goggles on his head who seemed to be tending to the noodle cart didn't especially mind the fact that the dragon in question was helping itself to a bowl of ramen. Was it an Oversoul? Well, there was only one way to find out.

"What exactly _is_ that?" he probably sounded a little rude and the way he pointed at V-mon certainly wasn't the most polite gesture he could have come up with, but the curiosity was getting to him.

"I'm V-mon," the dragon answered helpfully before guzzling down another mouthful of ramen.

That didn't really answer Hana's question. Was that supposed to be a name or something? For some reason this just made him even more confused.

"Uh... what... exactly... is a V-mon?" Hana really didn't get what was happening here.

Daisuke grinned, "He's my digimon." His goggles seemed to glint more brightly in the sunlight for emphasis. It didn't really help to explain anything though.

"Huh?" Hana beginning to feel more lost now than when he had first begun questioning them. "What's a _digimon_?"

"It's short for digital monster," V-mon declared as if that explained everything. It really didn't.

Hana still didn't get it. "Is that like some kind of Oversoul?"

"A what?" It was Daisuke's turn to sound confused.

Hana continued, "Aren't you a shaman or something?"

"No idea what that is," Daisuke recovered much too quickly. "I'm one of the chosen children," he paused and added, "I think some people call us the digidestined because we each have a partner digimon."

"You mean there are more of them?" Hana was liable to trip over himself in surprise at this point. He really needed to stop overreacting like that.

Before he could get an answer to this question he spotted two more boys accompanied by strange creatures approaching the noodle cart. One of them looked like some kind of small orange dinosaur. The other had a single horn and appeared to be wearing some kind of blue-striped fur pelt.

"It looks like Daisuke is still busy bringing in new recruits," Taichi started joking with Yamato.

"He's definitely got a knack for it," Yamato agreed.

**End**


	2. Episode 02

Additional Author's Notes: Just to avoid confusion, I thought I should mention that I tend to use the Japanese names when it comes to Digimon.

* * *

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. Similarly, Digimon and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai and Toei Animation.

Author's Notes: And so, against my better judgment, this has become a multi-chapter story.

* * *

The Fateful Encounter

_5 Years Later..._

_The year is now 2012..._

It started as a routine field trip to visit the famous Fuji Television Building in Odaiba. Asakura Hana, now eleven years old, still had a certain amount of disdain for anyone with authority over him although he did make an effort to be a generally good student so he wouldn't have to take it up with his mother. In this instance, however, he had become distracted and ended up wandering away from his fellow classmates when he noticed a rather peculiar looking spirit lurking in the building.

It was vaguely humanoid. It looked to be wearing some kind of beige jumpsuit with oddly placed zippers that sported ornaments in the shape of a crescent moon with leather boots that seemed rather poorly stitched together adorned with identical ornaments in gold instead of the steel color that comprised the zippers. It had equally tattered leather gloves to match also covered with an assortment of strangely positioned zippers and wore a dull red tunic vest beneath and long black cape the interior of which appeared to be covered with peculiar hieroglyphic markings that effectively cast the illusion of the night sky. The cape effectively covered the lower part of the front of its face with a small skull fitted into the front of the collar. The rest of its face was cast in shadow by a tattered and pointed witch's hat with a larger skull ornament fitted to the front. All that could be seen beneath was a pale face with green eyes and patches of unruly blond hair. In one hand it seemed to be carrying some kind of staff the head of which appeared to be shaped like an image of the sun except that it looked kind of broken in some places.

This definitely qualified as one of the strangest spirits Hana had ever seen. Curiosity got the better of him and when he had the opportunity he decided to follow it. The spirit seemed to realize it was being followed and apparently not wanting any trouble retreated through the door of a locked janitor's closet. Hana could have given up his pursuit at that point to rejoin his classmates, but he was much more interested in finding out more about the unusual spirit. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a single leaf that became the medium for a small leaf sprite that he could then manipulate into opening the door for him from the inside.

Hana closed the door quickly behind him. It was dark inside the closet, but he was able to find the pull string for a flickering overhead ceiling lamp that probably could stand to have its light bulb changed that at least cast some illumination on his surroundings. The unusual spirit, having witnessed all this, no longer seemed inclined to run off on him. In fact, it occurred to Hana that the look in the spirit's eyes seemed to reflect a sudden interest in the situation.

"I can see you aren't an ordinary child," the spirit spoke to him in a surprisingly easy-going manner. It, well actually from the sound of the voice it was probably a _he_, actually sounded amused. "Most people just get frightened or nervous when they think they've seen me around here and walk as fast as they can the other way, but you don't seem to be bothered by ghosts."

"I'm a shaman," Hana responded automatically. "I live with ghosts."

"My name is Wizarmon," the spirit had opted to introduce himself. "Might I inquire about yours?"

"It's Hana," he answered more quietly remembering that even though they were out of sight he still needed to keep his voice down. No one passing by would be able to hear Wizarmon, but Hana was still technically a kid in a place he probably wasn't supposed to be and he could still get in trouble for it. "Are you some kind of nature spirit?"

"It's a little complicated," Wizarmon started. "I was a digimon. I was killed roughly 13 years ago and to my knowledge very few good digimon ever become ghosts."

_Digimon._ Hana was sure he'd heard that word somewhere before. _Digital monsters or something like that._ So, this meant they were both real and very much alive. And if Wizarmon was any basis for it they clearly must have souls.

"Why is that?" Hana wanted to know more.

"We come from a place called the Digital World," Wizarmon explained. "The Digital World is connected to this world, which we call the Real World, by the vast network of computers around the globe. When a digimon dies their data is reconfigured at the Village of New Beginnings where they can hatch into a new digimon. The process is like a very literal representation of the human concept of reincarnation. Data that is unable to be reconfigured is sent to the Dark Area."

"And what about you?" Hana didn't necessarily understand everything he was being told, but it sounded interesting.

"I was killed outside of the Digital World," Wizarmon continued. "I decided not to go back and remained here in the event that I might still be able to assist an important friend of mine."

"But you _are_ a ghost right?" Hana was fairly certain of that, but now he wanted confirmation.

"That's true," Wizarmon admitted. "It's also very likely that as this world has become less hospitable to them many spiritual beings have migrated to the Digital World and taken on a life of their own." He paused and added, "Of course it would be impossible to actually verify any of that."

It actually kind of made sense to think that maybe spirits from the old world had simply taken on new forms better suited for continued existence in the modern era. Spirits are, after all, very resilient beings.

"Anyway," Wizarmon spoke up again, "you should probably get going. You don't want to get left behind."

* * *

Wizarmon was kind enough to help Hana find his way back to his classmates without being spotted by anyone who would have given him trouble for wandering off like that. In fact, it seemed that his teacher hadn't even realized he'd been gone so long which was something of a relief for Hana because it meant that his parents probably wouldn't find out about it. Still, it had turned out to be a rather fascinating field trip for him even if the subject matter that interested him couldn't really be considered academic.

**To Be Continued...**


	3. Episode 03

Warning: Even though this story is firmly situated in alternate universe territory by liberty of being a crossover there are still likely to be spoilers related to the canonical source materials.

* * *

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. Similarly, Digimon and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai and Toei Animation.

Author's Notes: I've been fascinated by the Dark Ocean since I first witnessed that arc of the 2nd season of Digimon when I was still in high school and with that fascination newly rekindled by watching the subtitled version of that season it seems only fitting that it would come to play a part in this story. I told you my imagination was twisted.

* * *

The World of Darkness

It was shaping up to be one one of those days. It was true that Hana was generally disinterested with going to school based on the other aspects of his lifestyle, but in this case he had other things on his mind. He had been replaying the rather unusual conversation from the Fuji Television Building in his head trying to make sense of it, but clearly most of the stuff that Wizarmon had been talking about was beyond his ability to comprehend.

It was getting close to the time when Amidamaru would begin lecturing him about the importance of his education. Hana hadn't wandered so far along the river that he wouldn't be able to get to class on time if he decided to turn back on his own so it hadn't become a topic for immediate discussion. Not that Hana wanted to discuss it. He hadn't actually gotten around to thinking about skipping school or he would have been a lot more vocal about it. In fact, he had been just about ready to start heading back when something really weird caught his attention.

_What's with that sound?_ Hana had become aware of a sound like waves crashing on a distant beach. This was strange for several reasons, but the most pressing of those was the fact that he was nowhere near the ocean and the river never sounded like that before. As he searched for the source of the offending noise he became gradually aware of the fact that his field of vision was becoming distorted along the edges.

"What the hell?!" he demanded of no one in particular. The strange vision of a dark and barren stretch of beach opened up around him and it felt like he was being pulled in as it wrapped around him. To an outsider observer it would have looked like Hana vanished in the same manner as static fading off a television screen into a single point of light before being extinguished entirely by turning off the monitor. This was exactly what Amidamaru saw as Hana's school bag clattered uselessly onto the grass beside the river.

"Hana-dono!" Amidamaru called out in a voice of surprise and panic. People don't just disappear like that.

* * *

"That's interesting." A certain self-righteous deity had been watching this little scene unfold from his own vantage point. It was one of the perks of being the Shaman King and Hao was taking full advantage of it. "So Yggdrasil, just what do you have in store for my nephew?"

* * *

Something was very wrong about this place. Hana had been conscious for the transition although he strongly wished that this were just a nightmare brought on by the usual guilt of taking a nap instead of attending school. The fact that the stretch of beach he found himself standing on seemed to be devoid of any color just served to make him even more uncomfortable. It occurred to him that maybe whatever had brought him to this place wanted him to feel that way. And that just annoyed him.

"Nice try," he shouted at no one in particular. "You can't mess with me that easily!"

He waited for several long seconds, but as could be expected there was no response. Then a shrill roar broke the silence and Hana's gaze shifted to the far off horizon. Something very large was moving toward him.

What Hana was looking at appeared to be a dreadful amalgamation of highly incompatible body parts. It had the face of some kind of humongous insect attached to the torso of some kind of predatory dinosaur with a mane of thick hair of some indistinguishable color that he could only assume must have been attributed to this already awful place. The lower half was clearly covered in some kind of striped fur and the legs were visibly canine although the tail that was connected to it was also clearly reptilian. It had a pair of thoroughly demonic looking arms as well as a second pair of mismatched arms beneath the first one of which looked like it must have belonged to some kind of giant insect and the other had probably come from some kind of dinosaur skeleton. On top of that the creature had two sets of wings. The upper pair were feathery looking and under normal circumstances might have even looked angelic while the lower pair were clearly draconic which should have been impossible.

"What the hell _is_ that?!" Hana demanded. He was smart enough to know that the anatomy of that behemoth didn't make the slightest bit of sense. Then again, Hana's arrival in this place definitely didn't make sense either and he wasn't exactly well versed in literature about chimeras either. Granted, the creature that was flying toward him hardly resembled any real animal he had ever seen.

The creature's jaws opened wide and some kind of projectile started moving toward him at a more accelerated rate. It might have been a fireball from the looks of it, but the fact that it was darkest in the places it probably should have been brightest was rather unsettling. Hana still had enough of his wits about him to move out of the way before the projectile impacted with the beach forming a large crater that was visibly singed along the edges.

In that instant Hana knew that it didn't matter what that thing was. Whatever it was it was trying to kill him and that meant he needed to figure out some way to either fight it off or get away from it. Given that he had absolutely no idea where he was the latter was probably going to be more difficult, albeit not by much.

**To Be Continued...**

**

* * *

**Additional Author's Notes: Uh-oh, does that look like a cliffhanger? Don't worry, I'll try not to leave you hanging for too long.


	4. Episode 04

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. Similarly, Digimon and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai and Toei Animation.

Author's Notes: This is probably going to get a heck of lot more convoluted from this point on. That's what happens when people let me play by my own rules.

* * *

An Instrument of Light

From the looks of it there was only one viable escape route from the rather unsettling stretch of beach that Hana had become stranded on just a few moments earlier. It was a tunnel entrance that looked like it might lead to the other side of the mountains that seemed to surrounded the beach. There was no telling what he might find on the other side, but Hana reasoned that at the moment anything was better than waiting around for that giant flying abomination to reach shore. He made a run for it.

The interior of the tunnel was illuminated in the sense that Hana could still see, but even the light that filled the tunnel seemed to be tainted with darkness. The overall effect was kind of unnerving.

_Just what is this place anyway?_ Hana had become less concerned about where he was and more concerned by why it was even there in the first place. It was one of those places that just felt wrong all over.

As he was running he hadn't given much thought to the fact that there might also be something else inside the tunnel. This is what led him to collide with what could best be described as some kind of anthropomorphic lion. An anthropomorphic lion wearing what were probably darkly colored pants with a somewhat darker belt and additional straps around the ankles. There were additional straps and buckles wrapped around its left arm with another strap around the hand adorned with some kind of metal studs. The anthropomorphic lion also wore a necklace of some kind of fangs with a small pendant and had a single loop earring dangling from his left ear. He also had some kind of sword strapped around the back of his waist.

Hana took this all in as the beast man in question caught him by the arm before he was able to fall back after the collision. Under any other circumstances he probably would have been a little more apologetic, but as it was Hana was simply relieved that this new guy didn't seem to have an interest in attacking him. In fact, Hana detected a measure of surprise reflected in the beast man's expression. The distinct lack of color in this place was really starting to get to him.

"You can see me?" The beast man had the voice of a hardened warrior and yet, was also gentle. And that was when Hana realized that his new companion was also rather transparent.

"Yeah," Hana responded in a rather offhanded fashion. He was still in kind of a hurry on account of trying to get as far away as possible from the abomination outside that had some kind of breath attack that could incinerate sand.

"So you must be what has Chimeramon in such a frenzy," the beast man continued.

Hana stopped in his tracks, "You mean that monster outside?"

_Chimeramon._ It took several seconds for the significance of the name to occur to him._ Chimera-mon. Wizar-mon._ There was a definite pattern to them. _Don't tell me..._ "That thing is actually a digimon, isn't it?"

"Or what's left of one anyway," the beast man confirmed for him.

Hana looked him over again. The conclusion seemed obvious. "I guess that goes for you too."

"You can call me Leomon," the beast man verified for him.

Hana brushed a hand through his unruly hair. This was getting complicated. "Can you tell me what this place is?"

"This place has been given many names by those who have been here," Leomon started. "The Dark Ocean, the World of Darkness, Dagomon's Ocean, and the Dark Area are among the most common titles given to this location. It is the place where data remnants that can no longer be reconfigured are sent to keep them separate from the rest of the Digital World. It is also highly unstable."

"So this _Chimeramon_ is basically an evil spirit. An oni bent on destruction," Hana determined for himself. "How do I get back to my own world?"

"The connection between the two worlds is probably strongest at the point where you arrived," Leomon suggested.

Hana looked back the way he had come from, "That means I have to go back out there and somehow get past Chimeramon."

"I should be able to distract him for you," Leomon flexed appreciatively. "I might be a little out of practice."

* * *

To be perfectly honest, Hana could tell just by looking at them that Leomon was probably greatly outclassed by the monstrosity that was Chimeramon. Leomon really must have been a brave warrior and Hana knew there wasn't anything he could do to even the odds, but he still felt kind of bad about having to abandon him in such a dreadful place. If only he had arrived in this location with something he could have used to fight with.

Hana watched from the tunnel entrance as Leomon set out to draw Chimeramon's attention away. By that point the enormous amalgamation of seemingly incompatible body parts had already landed on the beach. It was even bigger up close than it had been from a distance.

Leomon pulled his fist in front of his chest as it became charged with a glow that was visible even in the absence of color. In the next instant he swung his fist toward Chimeramon, still a considerable distance away, and called out, "Fist of the Beast King!" as a projectile in the shape of the face of a lion shot off his fist to smash into Chimeramon. Clearly Leomon could take care of himself.

As Chimeramon charged at Leomon, Hana was able to make a run for the crater that marked the place where he had first arrived on that awful beach. That was when he hesitated. Hana knew he was the one that Chimeramon was after. He was a shaman and he wanted to be able to fight his own battles. It was already unfair that he had been born too late to participate in the Shaman Fight. He didn't want to be left out of this too.

The sand beneath Hana's feet seemed to rumble as a pillar of light bubbled to the surface. Unlike the false light that had illuminated the tunnel this light was real and it had color.

"Huh?" Hana was surprised when he suddenly felt the Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi materialize in his hand. The ancient stone sword gave him a sense of assurance. There would be plenty of times to ask questions later. Right now he had what he needed to help Leomon.

* * *

The ongoing battle between Leomon and Chimeramon had raged a little ways down the coastline so that Hana had to run to catch up. At the very least he was certainly getting plenty of exercise today. Of course he probably wasn't going to make it to school on time at this rate, assuming he would even bother going after all this.

Leomon was surprised to see him again, "I thought you were trying to get out of here."

"I changed my mind," Hana stated simply. "I want to help."

Leomon still looked uncertain, "How do you propose to do that?"

"I'm a shaman. Since you're technically a spirit," Hana explained as he held up the Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi, "we should be able to take him if you lend me your strength. Are you up for that?"

Leomon probably didn't understand, but he seemed to trust Hana's new found confidence. "Sure. Let's give it a try."

What followed definitely wasn't what Hana had been going for. He got as far as having Leomon transform into a spirit flame and integrating him with Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi before the process seemed to take on a life of its own. Leomon was transformed into something more powerful, but it certainly didn't look or behave like an Oversoul. Leomon became larger and his beast-like features became more pronounced. His pants became metallic and frayed along the edges. Heavy metal gauntlets formed around his hands and a flowing cape adorned his shoulders. He clutched an impressively large blade in his right hand. Hana really wasn't sure how this had happened, but it was kind of cool anyway.

"Lion King Sword," Leomon was able to expertly wield his newly enhanced blade to chop off one of Chimeramon's demonic arms in a single stroke. His opponent screeched in agony and retaliated with a fireball from its mouth. Leomon cleaved the breath attack cleanly in half so that the shockwave merely blew past him. Leomon sheathed his sword and assumed a fighting stance. "Let's finish this."

Chimeramon exhaled another fireball. Leomon slammed his fist through the blast smashing straight through it. "Fist of the Beast King!" The modified version of his earlier attack was devastating enough that Chimeramon's entire body was gradually consumed by the blast. When the dust settled, Chimeramon was gone and Leomon had returned to his previous state.

_What just happened?_ Hana looked on in wonder at what he had just witnessed.

* * *

The pillar of light that had granted Hana access to the Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi was right where he had left it. Leomon escorted him back also in awe of what had just transpired. With Chimeramon out of the way the atmosphere of the place felt lighter somehow although the eerie beach was still devoid of color. Perhaps this was the reason that Hana had been brought here in the first place.

"Take care of yourself," Hana bid farewell to Leomon.

"That goes for you as well," Leomon informed him.

The light from the pillar brightened and Hana found himself surrounded by it. The view of the peculiar beach was eventually lost in a void of white.

* * *

Hana was once again standing beside the river back in Funbari. Amidamaru was relieved to see him.

"Hana-dono! Where were you?" Amidamaru sounded frantic.

"I'm not really sure," Hana answered truthfully. "It's kind of hard to explain." _It was pretty cool though._

Amidamaru relaxed a little although he suspected there was something Hana wasn't telling him. For the moment all that mattered was that he was safe. He was also, however, going to be late for school.

**To Be Continued...**

**

* * *

**Additional Author's Notes: This is probably going to be it for awhile since I'm going to be participating in NaNoWriMo next month. Sorry for the inconvenience.


	5. Episode 05

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. Similarly, Digimon and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai and Toei Animation.

Author's Notes: I'm sure some of you are probably wondering why there haven't been any updates to this story for the past 8 months. The reason is simple enough. Originally, I had only planned on cutting back on fanfiction writing during the month of November so I could participate in NaNoWriMo without anything else hanging over my head, but then the holiday season came and went and I ended up becoming responsible for the training of my mom's new dog. This has, unfortunately, been taking an enormous chunk out of my preferred writing time. Anyway, enough about that. I'd like to get on with the story. Wouldn't you?

* * *

Here There Be Monsters

It was shaping up to be another uneventful day in the digital world. This suited Ogremon just fine as it gave him plenty of time to brood about his past with Leomon as he wandered aimlessly still trying to discover a new purpose for himself. He had grown accustomed to his solitary lifestyle and generally kept out of the affairs of the chosen children and their periodic confrontations with those seeking to control the powers of darkness. So when a small and potentially problematic little digimon happened to cross his path that morning he was understandably less than enthusiastic about the encounter. He would have left it at that and continued on his way except that the unfamiliar digimon seemed to have taken an interest in him.

Dracmon was a small, vaguely humanoid digimon with pale lifeless skin and a band of scruffy black fur around its neck. A black executioner's mask covered most of its entire head with the exception of its mouth which was stretched into an uncomfortably wide smile. The mask had a red eye-shaped symbol on the right and a green eye-shaped symbol on the left, but the creature's real eyes were actually embedded into the palms of its hands. Its five-fingered hands ended in sharp, pointy red claws as if to reinforce its demonic nature. It was dressed in a pair of black pants and shoes of a slightly lighter shade with three red pointed claws protruding from each foot. It had black leather straps buckled around its wrists and a darkly colored bandaged wrapped around the upper portion of its right arm. It also had additional red spikes protruding from its elbows. It had an arrow-tipped demonic tail and a pair of navy blue colored demonic wings wrapped around its each tipped with another red spike. They were cuffed together at a golden buckle that connected to its pants with a small blue jewel embedded at the center.

Dracmon was too small to really seem menacing. After all, the little digimon barely came up to Ogremon's knees, but the way it smiled was enough to be a little unsettling.

"Get lost," Ogremon didn't feel like being polite with such an obvious troublemaker. Dracmon had the distinctly unpleasant scent of a digimon that had originated from the Dark Area. It was like being in the presence of Devimon or the Dark Masters all over again. Ogremon had no intention of getting mixed up with shady characters like them again.

"Aren't you at least going to hear me out?" Dracmon managed to sound slightly hurt even has he giggled insanely for no readily apparent reason. That just made being near him a heck of a lot creepier.

Ogremon did his best to ignore the uneasiness that was beginning to creep up on him. "Let me guess. You're either plotting to destroy or conquer this world. Well, let me tell you something-in about ten minutes a handful of kids with pretty harmless looking digimon are going to find you and thwart your plans. If you're smart, you'll quit while you're ahead."

"Aw," Dracmon pouted. "You're no fun."

"Hmph," Ogremon tried to ignore him. He started walking again.

"And here I was going to offer to let you join me," Dracmon persisted.

Ogremon snorted indignantly and turned around to tell Dracmon off again, but immediately looked away. The little demon was holding up his hands so that the eyes in his palms were glowing. Ogremon immediately swung at the little pest with his bone club.

"Did you really think that after surviving this long I would fall for a petty mind control technique?" Ogremon snarled. "Leave me alone before I decide to stop going easy on you."

Ogremon started walking again. Dracmon didn't follow him and after several long minutes Ogremon was satisfied to have only the sound of his own footsteps to accompany him.

Meanwhile, Dracmon picked himself up off the ground after recovering from being struck by Ogremon's bone club. For a brief instant his smile faltered slightly.

"You're going to regret this." A sinister edge crept into Dracmon's voice.

* * *

After Hana's little adventure the previous morning had ended the rest of the day went by as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and by the following afternoon it almost seemed as if the whole experience was probably going to be a one time thing. Hana had decided he didn't want to think too much about it and was only troubling himself to be at school because it would at least help to keep his mind off the strange things that had been happening to him since he discovered that strange ghost during that school field trip. He couldn't really help thinking that these incidents were somehow related.

School was over for the day. Hana was about to leave as usual when something about the school's computer room caught his eye. He wasn't terribly interested in computers. After all, computers had very little to do with his family's line of work as shamans, but he had a feeling that the brilliant glow emanating from the room wasn't entirely normal. Nevertheless, when he entered the room there wasn't anybody there.

Hana was about to assume that he had only imagined the peculiar light he had seen just a moment ago when something suddenly burst from one of the monitors. It resembled something like an enormous orange firefly. In the next instant it darted straight toward him at an alarming speed and as Hana raised his hands to defend himself the glowing object came to an immediate halt as it made itself at home in Hana's outstretched hand. After a few seconds the object stopped glowing and took on the appearance of something that could have been a pager or a small cell phone. It had a small screen with a few buttons beneath it. The casing was black and orange. For some reason this seemed strangely fitting.

However, Hana didn't have much time to contemplate the peculiar device that had come into his possession before something even more unexpected happened to him. One of the computer monitors closest to him suddenly burst into light and in the next instant the classroom began to dissolve around him fading from view.

* * *

Hana hit the dirt face first. He had no idea what had just happened, but at least the ground was actually in color unlike that place he had been swept off to the day before. He pushed himself up on his knees and discovered that at least his school bag had made the trip with him this time. That would certainly make his life a whole lot easier.

Amidamaru was hovering beside him. The initial flash of light had been more than enough of a reason for him to be on alert.

Hana picked up his school bag and climbed to his feet. He ran a hand through his hair as he took in the surrounding trees along with the rest of the unfamiliar plants occupying the altogether foreign landscape. Hana was less troubled by the sudden change in scenery than his samurai companion. After all, if this place was strange to a kid who had grown up in an age of technology, video games and special effects, then for a 600 year old samurai spirit this place was probably even stranger.

Hana strategically overlooked the television resting on the ground behind him. Little did he know that it would become much more significant to him later.

"Snap out of it," he called over to his ghost companion. "Just floating around isn't going to help us figure out where we are."

It took a moment for Amidamaru to get past the awe inspiring nature of their predicament. Once he had recovered Hana was able to remind the samurai that it might help if he would scout the area from above. When Amidamaru came back down several minutes later it became apparent that knowing their surroundings hadn't really improved their situation.

"Sorry Hana-dono," Amidamaru started apologetically. "Nothing about this place looks familiar."

"Alright," Hana responded uncertainly. "There have got to be buildings or something. Somewhere we can find someone to ask for directions. Let me take a look."

He moved for one of the larger trees in the vicinity and made a grab for one of the upper branches, missed completely and then stumbled forward only to land _inside_ of the tree. Well, this day just kept getting better and better. As he tried to regain his bearings, Hana became aware that the entire interior of the tree was apparently hollow with a shimmering metallic looking surface. He had to remind himself that the surface couldn't be perfectly solid because he had just now passed straight through it without incident. He reached out a hand and sure enough his hand went cleanly through it.

Hana took a deep breath to reinforce his resolve and then stepped out of the very unusual tree he had fallen into. He bumped into something big and green.

"Hey," the green creature turned around to face him. "Watch where you're going."

At least, unlike some of the other creatures Hana had encountered recently, this one was fairly straightforward. It looked like an ordinary green oni complete with plenty of horns, spikes and teeth sticking out at odd angles. An appearance like that was well within Hana's realm of understanding.

Ogremon glanced down at the small human that had stumbled into him. Perhaps the strangest thing about him was the fact that he was in the digital world and didn't appear to be accompanied by a digimon or any other children for that matter. Then again, the little brat didn't look the least bit frightened by him either.

"What are you staring at?" he tried to make himself seem a little more menacing.

Hana took a step backward, "Uh nothing. This wouldn't happen to be hell, would it?"

After all, that was the most likely place he would find an oni.

"Wait, what?" Ogremon was a little taken aback. This was arguably one of the stranger little humans that had crossed his path. "I'm not sure what you're going on about, but this is the digital world."

Hana went quiet for several long seconds after that. Wasn't that the place Wizarmon had told him about that was supposed to be where digimon come from? So that meant that what he had previously thought to be an oni was probably just another digimon. Well, at least Hana could rule out the theory he had about a computer exploding and this being the afterlife. Then again, if he had been dead, he'd have probably seen his annoying uncle by now.

"That's a relief," Hana finally broke the silence. "I thought I was dead."

Ogremon was about to make some kind of sarcastic retort when he became aware of a steady rumbling sound that appeared to be getting closer. Looking back the way he had come from he counted no fewer than a dozen Monochromon stampeding toward them.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable just yet if I were you," Ogremon gave Hana a warning tone.

* * *

"That will teach you for refusing my generous offer," Dracmon cackled insanely to himself in evil amusement elsewhere in the digital world.

**To Be Continued...**

**

* * *

**Additional Author's Notes: I can't make any promises, but I'm still hoping that I will be able to find more time to write from now on so the next chapter won't need to be delayed as long as this one was.**  
**


	6. Episode 06

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Shaman King and its characters are the property of Hiroyuki Takei. Similarly, Digimon and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai and Toei Animation.

* * *

Dragon Samurai

Ogremon readied his bone club to defend himself against the stampeding Monochromon. He could certainly take them all on if it came to that, but as long as he could just clear a path through them that wouldn't really be necessary. Something had clearly frightened the dinosaur digimon into stampeding like this so they obviously weren't intent on a real fight. The real problem was that they were big and there were an awful lot of them. The other problem was the strange kid he had met just a few moments ago. Didn't children who were brought to the digital world usually have their own digimon there waiting to protect them? Not that it was of any concern to Ogremon what happened to the human boy, but something about the situation just seemed a little bit off to him. And why wasn't the kid running?

Hana saw the rhinoceros-like creatures rampaging through the trees and immediately reached into his school bag. He pulled out the Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi and gave Amidamaru a meaningful look. Amidamaru was still somewhat alarmed by the nature of their surroundings, as well as the strangely dinosaur-like creatures that were charging through the forest, and while he wasn't really certain how much use an Oversoul would be in this situation, the samurai ghost wasn't about to argue with Hana about it right this second. Amidamaru went along with Hana's unspoken request for assistance and the young shaman quickly engaged his Oversoul while, all the while, the stampede of unusual looking creatures kept on charging toward them.

Ogremon didn't understand what the little idiot was doing. All he could see was the kid pulling some old fashioned stone sword out of his bag while glancing at empty space beside him. The next thing he knew the stampeding Monochromon were suddenly being swatted aside by some invisible force that seemed to be centered on the human kid. Within minutes all the panicked Monochromon had scattered in different directions just to get away and the human boy was grinning in triumph.

Ogremon's jaw dropped. "What the heck did you do to them?"

"I guess you can't see spirits," Hana replied. "All I did was smack them around a bit with my Oversoul. I'm a shaman."

Hana had already disengaged his Oversoul and slipped the Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi back in his bag. As enjoyable as it was for him to finally have an excuse to use them it would probably be a good idea not to expend his Furyoku too quickly in a place like this.

Ogremon stared at him. "Is that some kind of new human I hadn't previously heard of?"

Hana scratched behind his ear. "Actually," he explained, "shamanism is a very ancient human tradition, but in modern times most people have simply forgotten about it. Of course, I come from a long line of shamans so I have access to powers that most humans will never even know exist."

"You're a strange kid," Ogremon remarked rather offhandedly. Well, whatever the boy had done, it had obviously worked because the stampede was gone and he had gotten out of it without a scratch.

"I don't suppose you have any idea how I'm supposed to get home, do you?" Hana looked up at Ogremon expectantly.

Ogremon shrugged, "If you have the right kind of digivice you should be able to just open up the gate and go back to your own world."

Hana dug around his pants pocket and extracted the strange device the school computer had spit out at him. "I'm guessing when you say _digivice_ you must mean this. But I don't remember any gate."

Ogremon shook his head. This kid was hopeless. "You came here through a computer, right? That means there should have been a television set in the area you arrived. All you have to do is go back, hold that digivice out to it and say 'Digital Gate Open' and it should take you back to where you entered from."

"Alright," Hana made a mental note of that. "Thanks for your help."

Ogremon watched as the boy started backtracking through the forest. He was getting too old to be getting mixed up in this kind of stuff.

* * *

After witnessing that spectacular display against the Monochromon, Dracmon began trailing after the unusual human boy with obvious interest. Ogremon had blown off his offer, but this human could prove to be much more valuable if Dracmon could get the boy to cooperate with him. Things might not turn out in his favor, but for Dracmon the challenge just increased the appeal of trying it anyway.

"We should be getting close to the place we arrived at," Amidamaru informed Hana. It was somewhat reassuring that the Oversoul had been effective against the creatures inhabiting this world, but the samurai ghost was still very much in favor of leaving as soon as possible.

"That's good," Hana heaved a quiet sigh. It was already going to be a pain to explain why he was late getting home from school, but at least he wasn't completely stranded here.

That was when a dark shape darted past him and Dracmon blocked his path. The demonic looking creature smiled so widely it kind of made Hana's face hurt to think about it.

"What do you want?" Hana didn't trust this new digimon. There was something inherently sinister about it.

"I'm here to help you," Dracmon nodded to Hana and to Amidamaru. Yes, he could see the samurai ghost and he had seen the power of Hana's Oversoul.

"That's alright," Hana waved him off. "We were just leaving."

Dracmon wasn't about to let himself be turned down so easily. As Hana started to walk around him, the undead digimon reached up to grab the boy's arm. Dracmon's crimson claws scraped menacingly against Hana's flesh.

"You don't understand," Dracmon spoke again. "I'm not giving you a choice."

"Iaijin!" a voice called out as a katana flew through the air and struck Dracmon square in the chest. It bounced harmlessly off of his demonic belt buckle, but the blow sent Dracmon staggering and forced him to release his hold on Hana.

A green eyed, orange furred dragon with a white underbelly emerged from the foliage. He was glad in purple studded, black samurai armor with red trimmed gauntlets strapped to his forearms with purple cloth. There was also red trim on the front edges of his helmet with a decorated brass head plate at the front. A red tassel trailed from underneath the back of the dragon's helmet. An inverted red jeweled triangle with a metallic silver rim was also embedded into the helmet. His feet and forepaws were each equipped with a set of three pointed, white claws.

"Keep your hands off Hana," the new digimon growled at Dracmon as the small demon slowly backed away.

"So the boy who mingles with ghosts has a partner after all," Dracmon chuckled to himself. He didn't seem to be the least bit disappointed by this revelation. "This makes things even more interesting."

"Leave," the draconic samurai kept his eyes locked on the small demon. "Now!" His mouth opened wide and another katana shot out at Dracmon. Dracmon quickly stepped aside.

"Alright," Dracmon finally conceded. "I don't really have time to play with you today anyway."

And, with that, he ran off into the woods cackling to himself all the way.

Hana shuddered. Something about Dracmon just felt extremely wrong to him. Hana was only able to relax when the sound of Dracmon's laughter faded into the distance. Only then did Hana look over the newcomer who had saved him. He was orange and dressed like a samurai. Hana had a feeling his father would have approved highly.

"Thanks for getting rid of that guy," Hana spoke finally.

"My apologies for not arriving sooner," the draconic samurai responded. "My name is Ryuudamon," he introduced himself before continuing. "You wish to return home, correct?"

"Right," Hana recalled Dracmon's remark about having a partner. Was that the reason Ryuudamon had come to his aid?

"Shall we go then?" Ryuudamon was moving toward the television set that looked strangely out of place in the middle of the field up ahead.

Hana nodded dumbly and followed after him with Amidamaru trailing after him.

* * *

After following Ogremon's instructions once he reached the television in the field, Hana found himself standing once again in the computer room at his school as if nothing had happened. Well, almost. Ryuudamon was nowhere to be seen, but there was an orange serpent floating in the air next to him. The serpent had two small, red tipped horns beneath a longer purple tipped horn on either side of his head. There were portions of a black, crescent shaped marking above and below each of his eyes. He had four small fins in place of hands and feet. And his white underbelly was visibly segmented. However, he still vaguely resembled Ryuudamon even in this smaller form.

"So," Hana wondered aloud. "Are you still Ryuudamon?"

"In this form I am called Kyokyomon," the serpent corrected him. "I have assumed this form to conserve power in your world."

"I see," Hana didn't really get it. Still, Kyokyomon would probably be easy enough for him to sneak into Funbari Onsen since he already kind of looked like a spirit. If he was lucky the usual residents wouldn't even notice that the digimon was actually something else entirely. Of course, Hana was still going to have to think up an explanation for why he was going to be so late getting back from school today.

Of course, Amidamaru was still even more confused than Hana was.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: That's right. I finally managed to settle on a partner for Hana. I wonder how many of you saw this coming.


End file.
